Preview: Hurricanes v Chiefs
SUPER RUGBY QUARTERFINAL: Last Friday they showed us just how entertaining the competition can be – producing an eight-try thriller.
On Friday we get another chance to see two of the most exciting teams in the competition going head-to-head.
The question is: Will they throw caution to the wind again or will they become a bit more circumspect – given that tries and bonus points are not a factor in this game.
Somehow it does not seem that being ultracautious or overly conservative is in either team’s DNA.
Chiefs coach Colin Cooper said – given the importance of the game – said the Hamilton-based team will be giving their all.
“It’s do-or-die at this point in the season,” Cooper said, adding: “The winner takes all and we’ve talked about the importance of giving the best you can and your all for the jersey.”
Cooper spoke of the “threat the Hurricanes pose all over the park” and the fact that they have home-ground advantage.
“The Hurricanes are going to bring a lot of intelligent skills to the contest.
“I expect them to use a lot of variety and they have a very good backline so there’ll be lots of threats around the park.”
Hurricanes assistant coach John Plumtree said there were aspects of their game they were not happy with, in the last five rounds – which saw them suffer defeats against the Crusaders, Highlanders, Brumbies and Chiefs.
Their only win in this period was against the Blues.
Plumtree said they have been addressing the problems over the past few weeks.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the Hurricanes side that everyone wants to see this weekend,” he told superrugby.co.nz.
Plumtree also spoke of the fast start the Chiefs had last week, which saw them take a 21-0 lead at half-time.
“They [the Chiefs] have been flying every game for the last five or six weeks, in terms of their, start and we can’t afford that to happen,” he said.
“Every individual has a job to do this weekend, we know we’ve worked hard to get to this point.
“It’s been a long season, we’ve arrived at play-offs time where we’re fortunate to have a game at home.
“We’ve earned that right and we’re in front of our home crowd and we’re where we want to be.
“We know we are playing against a really tough team. We’ve talked about all these things and we’re just excited about the weekend.
“I guess the point I want to make is the past is in the past now and we’re good to go,” he added.
Previous results:
2018: Chiefs won 28-24, Hamilton
2018: Hurricanes won 25-13, Wellington
2017: Chiefs won 17-14, Wellington
2017: Chiefs won 26-18, Hamilton
2016: Hurricanes won 25-9, Wellington (semifinal)
2016: Chiefs won 28-27, Wellington
2015: Hurricanes won 21-13, New Plymouth
2015: Hurricanes won 22-18, Wellington
2014: Chiefs won 24-16, Hamilton
2014: Hurricanes won 45-8, Wellington
Prediction: The Chiefs have won four of their last six games against the Hurricanes, including a 28-24 victory when they met just last weekend. The Canes have won 21 of their last 22 games played on home turf, including their last nine on the bounce. The Hurricanes have won nine of their last 10 games when hosting New Zealand sides, although their one defeat in that run came against the Chiefs last season. The Chiefs (9.1) and Hurricanes (9.4) have conceded the fewest clean breaks per game of any teams this season. Only Akira Ioane (74) has beaten more defenders in this campaign than Chiefs duo Solomon Alaimalo (64) and Damian McKenzie (62). Tough call, but we feel the Hurricanes will win by a single score – three to five points.
Teams:
Hurricanes: 15 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 14 Julian Savea, 13 Jordie Barrett, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Ben Lam, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Thomas Perenara, 8 Blade Thomson, 7 Gareth Evans, 6 Brad Shields (captain)/Reed Prinsep, 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Michael Fatialofa, 3 Jeff Toomaga-Allen, 2 Ricky Riccitelli, 1 Toby Smith.
Replacements: 16 James O’Reilly, 17 Chris Eves, 18 Ben May, 19 Vaea Fifita, 20 Reed Prinsep/Sam Henwood, 21 Jamie Booth, 22 Ihaia West, 23 Wes Goosen/Jonah Lowe.
Chiefs: 15 Solomon Alaimalo, 14 Sean Wainui, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Charlie Ngatai, 11 Shaun Stevenson, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Brad Weber, 8 Liam Messam, 7 Sam Cane, 6 Lachlan Boshier, 5 Michael Allardice, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Angus Ta’avao, 2 Nathan Harris, 1 Karl Tu’inukuafe.
Replacement: 16 Liam Polwart, 17 Sam Prattley, 18 Jeff Thwaites, 19 Jesse Parete, 20 Mitch Karpik, 21 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 22 Marty McKenzie, 23 Alex Nankivell.
Date: Friday, July 20
Venue: Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Kick-off: 19.35 (07.35 GMT)
Expected weather: Partly sunny; breezy in the afternoon. High of 14°C, low of 11°C
Referee: Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Nick Briant (New Zealand), Paul Williams (New Zealand)
TMO: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)
Compiled by Jan de Koning
@king365ed
@rugby365com
* Statistics provided by Opta Sports
